State Senate toys with bill to exempt Mich.-made firearms from Obama gun control regulations

5:01 PM, January 18, 2013

Brock Hanson of Princeton, La., tries out an EST 3000 Engagement Skills Trainer at the 35th annual SHOT Show on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, in Las Vegas. The Michigan Senate is considering a bill to ban federal regulation on guns made here. It would be a largely symbolic vote. / Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

Related Links

LANSING — A state Senate committee is to take up a bill Wednesday aimed at partly nullifying federal gun regulations as President Barack Obama moves to tighten gun control in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school killings.

The bill would prohibit federal regulation in Michigan of firearms, firearm accessories and ammunition wholly manufactured in Michigan.

Sponsored by Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair, and 12 other Republican senators, the bill is largely symbolic and its legality is questionable. One senator said it could also serve as an economic development tool that could attract gun manufacturers to Michigan.

“I am proud to stand with hardworking, law-abiding Michiganders who rightfully own a gun,” Pavlov posted on his Facebook page, saying he introduced the Michigan Firearms Freedom Act “in response to national threats against our Second Amendment rights.”

Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, the former sheriff of Eaton County, said he will take the bill up Wednesday at the Senate Judiciary Committee he chairs.

Jones said the bill “makes a statement to the federal government,” not just about gun rights, but about state rights.

“I also think it’s important to let major gun companies in the U.S. know that we are open for business,” Jones said.

He believes some firearms parts are manufactured in Michigan, but no significant gunmakers are located here. Some might be attracted by such a law, he said.

On Wednesday, Obama urged Congress to approve an assault-weapons ban and background checks for all gun buyers to try to help prevent incidents such as the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in which a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults.

Jones said he supports increased background checks, but “an assault rifle is an ugly deer rifle” and many in Michigan use similar weapons for hunting.

“We have no idea what the federal government is going to implement,” Jones said.